Even if he was registered, Richy would be behind Solanke and Marmoush in the selection order. Probably also behind Tel upfront too.
He would not be behind Tel as a Striker, he hasn't been for 12 months ever, so not sure he would be no, other than just because. Solanke can't stay fit, which plays into my reckoning on the subject. I love Marmoush but he isn't a striker in the traditional sense, he isn't playing the 9 role like anyone else is in the PL and it is showing in his lack of real threat to now (bar NF).
We also need goals, and will start scoring them as the team clicks in possession. I don’t think our problems are solved by Richy suddenly playing. Our problems are solved by chemistry, cohesion and confidence coming together in attack.
He scored 11 PL goals last season, you take them out the side as a stat alone and the prospect for goals in this side diminishes even further in a side that as pointed out previously, as players, have not scored enough goals in any season in the PL. I have said this isn't about Richy per say, its about the fact we need his goals.
I am not being harsh but this is what I am talking about mate, its the copium of everything is fine, when we have yet to score a goal this season, I don't rate Richy but I take the fact he can score a goal above what the alternatives seem to be and can at worse be moving forward should we get injuries, which seems likely every week. Thats the point really.
He’s on the naughty step because we are trying to send a message, to build a culture, to reinforce standards and to not have anyone in the team who is half in or half out. Every other player was afforded the opportunity to find a move and took it if they wanted to leave. This allowed us to sign replacements that actually wanted to be here. He has managed to not find a move despite multiple opportunities, but clearly the club needs it to be known if you say you want to leave, you need a move otherwise you will not play here anymore, because we do not want players who do not really want to be here. This has benefits to culture, to motivation, to the intensity. All of these things will pay off over the course of a season. We are not going to have people going through the motions seeing out their contracts anymore, and I’m delighted about that.
We all know that, this is not a defence of Richy this is a point of fact that the situation regardless who is to blame (neither you or me know) has stuffed us in an area in which we are clearly struggling and needed help with in the summer.
The lack of adding a striker and the Richy situation stuffs us for additional goals, thats the long and short of it, no blame no defence of anyone on any side, thats just the reality
I get people all want to be on the "all is fine" train, but it is ok to observe and see a situation for what it is. We are a striker down in a team that does not seem to be scoring goals. Thats a HUGE worry